SEABA are really excited to have a fantastic range of speakers at this years conference helping to demonstrate the varied and fascinating field of Applied Behaviour Analysis:
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Claire Hall - Parent / SEN Solicitor
Virginia Bovell -PhD/Parent/Co-founder of TreeHouse School
Thanos Vostanis - PhD Researcher, BCBA, QTS, CABAS Teacher
Caroline Pearce -MSc/BCaBA/Co-Director of the TLC & Jasmine Isani - BA (Hons) ABA Tutor -
Andrew Swartfigure - BCBA/Head of the Peartree centre
Tony Balaaz - BCBA/Independent Consultant
Susan Lewis - BCaBA/Independent Consultant
Mia Ross - Clinical Associate
Athene Burdge - PGCE;MSc; Autism Solutions Consultant
Sarah Hall - Parent
Claire Hall - Parent / SEN Solicitor
David Miland - MSc/PBS Consultant
Rosie Crathern - MSc ABA ABA Supervisor Forest Bridge School & Susan E. Tirella - BCBA - Head Behaviour Analyst at Forest Bridge school
Serena Tomlinson - PhD Researcher at Tizard Centre
Tracy Mapp - MSc ABA, PGCE - Precision Teaching consultant
Sian Kelly -Paediatric Occupational Therapist Sensory Integration Practitioner -
Sarah Jane - Secondary Teacher Step-by-Step School
Nick Barrett – MSc BCBA/Lead Behaviour Analyst at Dimensions
Amy Miland - MEd ABA, GradDip ABA;TLC Consultant & Laetitia Castle (parent)
Please note - speakers subject to change in the event of unforeseen circumstances
2017 Conference Speakers
Friday 16th June 2017
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After completing a law degree at Oxford University, Claire worked for several years
as a commercial lawyer in the City of London. She became involved in SEN law after her son was diagnosed with autism.
An Introduction to the Law on EHC Plans –Busting the Myths and Misinformation
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Claire will be talking about the law on EHC plans, with a focus on how parents can apply for and obtain an EHC plan for their child.
Claire Hall - Parent
/ SEN Solicitor
Virginia was instrumental in setting up one of the first ever ABA schools here in the UK (Treehouse) and has completed fascinating work about Autism and ethics.
We are so excited to have Virginia Bovell offering her informed and unique perspective on ABA and marmite...
Essentially she will be presenting on the positives, negatives and ways ABA can do better.
Virginia Bovell -PhD/Parent/Co-founder of TreeHouse School
PALMS is a service in Hertfordshire that uses principals and applications of Applied Behaviour Analysis and Positive Behaviour Support to address challenging behaviour, toileting, sleeping, and feeding difficulties for children and young people (ages 0-19) with a diagnosis of Autism and/or Learning Disability.
Kelly Johnston from PALMS will be presenting about their service model and sharing about the positive impact of the interventions they offers to children, young people, and their families within Hertfordshire
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(PALMS - Positive behaviour, Autism,
Learning disability and
Mental health Service)
Thanos Vostanis -
PhD Researcher, BCBA,
QTS, CABAS Teacher
Thanos will be presenting a general overview of Precision Teaching including major findings. His talk will enable the audience to understand the basic ideas behind PT and the vast possibilities it offers.
"I finished my teaching degree in Athens, and I worked with typically developing students teaching them Ancient Greek, Modern Greek History and Literature. After enrolling in a course for special education provided by the University of Athens, I secured placements at special education settings working with children and adults with diagnoses of ASD, ADHD, Cerebral-Palsy, Prader-Willi syndrome and others."
Caroline Pearce -
MSc/BCaBA/Co-Director of the TLC
Jasmine Isani - BA (Hons) ABA Tutor
Caroline - "I am co-director of the TLC and oversee home and school based ABA programmes in and around London and the South Coast."
Jasmine is an ABA tutor with the TLC. After graduating from the University of Sussex in 2010 with a degree in Philosophy she went on to work at Exratime, an inclusive afterschool club based in Brighton.
Murder Mysteries and Mission Impossibles: Teaching Social Skills with the Social Detectives Programme
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This talk will review the principles, processes and pitfalls of teaching social skills to groups of children with autism.
Andrew has worked with children and adults with Autism, language difficulties and ADHD for more than 17 years. He has worked as a self-employed ABA Consultant as well as working for organisations such as Childhood Autism UK (PEACH), Jigsaw CABAS School, Ambitious about Autism-(TreeHouse School, Ambitious College) and Beyond Autism. In addition he has written and delivered competency based training as well as being a ratified AET trainer.
AS
Andrew Swartfigure -
BCBA Head of the Peartree Centre
“Establishing an effective multi- disciplinary team”- The journey of the
Peartree Centre and underpinning with Behaviour Analysis
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Everybody says you should do it and the SEN code of practice promotes it, but how and why is multi- agency working so important and how do you achieve it behaviourally? Andrew will explore how you get everyone around the table and attempt to achieve a cohesive model of education for children in schools.
I consult to families who are setting up Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) programmes or who are converting other programmes to ABA. I work primarily, but not exclusively, for children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. I design and develop programmes that use the Analysis of Verbal Behaviour (VB) to teach language and communication skills, and I help implement these programmes by training families and ABA teams.
ACT and its applications
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Tony will discuss Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in three sections.
"Firstly, I will consider how the principles and practice of ACT can inform how parents and practitioners understand ABA and the development of an ABA programme."
Tony Balaaz - BCBA
Independent Consultant
Susan Lewis BCaBA has worked in the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis for 18 years. Susan trained as an ABA Consultant with the London Early Autism Project, which was a clinic set up in London by Dr Sallows of the Wisconsin Early Autism Project.
Susan Lewis will talk about her experiences in helping children with ASD to integrate into mainstream schools and how Applied Behaviour Analysis can equip students with the skills they need to succeed in school.
Susan Lewis -
BCaBA/Independent Consultant
Mia is an ABA Tutor with the TLC. Her first experiences of behaviour analysis came from volunteering at the TLC’s summer school, ‘Social Detectives’, in 2014. After having thoroughly enjoyed her time at detectives she then began training with the TLC and worked with them part-time whilst finishing a degree in Psychology with Neuroscience at the University of Sussex.
10 Things I hate about school
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This talk will be about my personal experience working with a 9 year old boy who is diagnosed with autism, epilepsy, and suffers from severe anxiety. I’ll discuss the specific challenges that we’ve both faced, and the triumphs that have been celebrated, giving an insight into one example of a school-programme.
Mia Ross - Clinical Associate
Athene Burdge -
PGCE; MSc;
Autism Solutions Consultant
After teaching Biology, Science and Maths for a number of years Athene decided to stay at home to look after and educate her first son. At 2 years 7 months he was diagnosed with Autism and Athene's life and career took a different path. She trained in South Africa as an ABA tutor for her son, but when her daughter was diagnosed with ASD a year later, she helped to get a team of tutors trained for her children.
A day in the life of the Roivaheb family.
With too much to tell and only twenty minutes to do it, fiction based on fact is the only way to go! This fast paced action packed talk should keep you on the edge of your seats with your pens poised. Using the delightful fictional Roivaheb family, Athene will weave in explanations of the different types of behaviour and the applications of ABA
Sarah Hall - Parent
Sarah will be speaking about her experiences as a parent of a child at an ABA school - "How we ended up at step by step school - How ABA helps charlie and therefore helps us all as a family"
"I am a proud mum of three boys. I have my own catering business. I encountered many, many obstacles along the way to getting Charlie into the best school provision. I am certainly no expert in ABA, but I can speak with clarity about what it has done for us as a family."
Saturday 17th June 2017
After completing a law degree at Oxford University, Claire worked for several years
as a commercial lawyer in the City of London. She became involved in SEN law after her son was diagnosed with autism.
An Introduction to the Law on EHC Plans –Busting the Myths and Misinformation
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Claire will be talking about the law on EHC plans, with a focus on how parents can apply for and obtain an EHC plan for their child.
Claie Hall -
Parent / SEN Solicitor
David Miland -
MSc/PBS Consultant
David Miland is a Positive Behaviour Support Consultant, having studied and graduated from the Tizard Centre, University of Kent with a BSc (Hons) in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and an MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis. 
Using PBS/ABA to overcome behavioural challenges in public whilst maintaining community presence/participation.
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This talk will explain the process of understanding why someone might engage in challenging behaviour in the community, and how to develop ideas to address them.
Rosie Crathern - MSc ABA
ABA Supervisor Forest Bridge School
& Susan E. Tirella BCBA - Head Behaviour Analyst at Forest Bridge school
Rosie began working at Snowflake School, London – a specialist ABA school for Children with Autism in 2011, after establishing a passion for improving the lives of children and young people with developmental and intellectual disabilities through her studies during her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. Rosie then went on to study her MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent, whilst supervising home based ABA provision.
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Susan E. Tirella is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst and the Head Behaviour Analyst at Forest Bridge School in Maidenhead, UK. Ms. Tirella has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Special Education from George Mason University. She began providing Applied Behaviour Analysis services to individuals with Autism and Developmental Disabilities in 2000
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Embedding Learning Opportunities into everyday lives.
This talk will give an overview of Forest Bridge School, values, ethos and aims and will then outline the ways in which all forms of care providers can effectively embed numerous learning opportunities into the everyday lives of the children and young people in their care.
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Serena is currently a PhD researcher and research assistant at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent. Her work focuses on supporting children and young people with learning disabilities and/or autism, and in particular those who display behaviours described as challenging. Her interest in the field began while working as a playworker and personal assistant for children and young people with learning disabilities, alongside her undergraduate degree in Applied Psychology.
Serena's talk will focus on the use of telehealth (e.g. videoconferencing) to train individuals in Applied Behavioural Analytic techniques. This is an exciting emerging area of research and has the potential to enable more people to receive ABA support and training, even if the professionals providing such support are not based near to them.
Serena Tomlinson -
PhD Researcher
at Tizard Centre
Tracy Mapp - MSc ABA, PGCE
Precision Teaching consultant
"My particular interest is in Precision Teaching and on completing my Masters in ABA, I was fortunate enough to attend Morningside Academy’s Summer School Institute in Seattle USA."
Tracks of Facts - A case study for Multiplying Maths Mastery
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How can BA be applied to mainstream education? This talk focuses briefly on the need for, and far reaching benefits of fluency, then looks at a method the speaker has developed and used with college students (including learners with autism) for rapidly learning times tables
Sian Kelly -
Paediatric Occupational Therapist
Sensory Integration Practitioner
Sian is an Occupational Therapist who has worked with people with a diagnosis of ASD for more than 11 years.  Having obtained her Master's in ‘Health Through Occupation’ from the University of Brighton, she went on to achieve the status of Sensory Integration Practitioner with the University of Ulster.
Supporting Postural Stability in an ABA Setting: A Collaborative Approach
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This talk will describe the collaborative approach used through occupational therapy and ABA to support a child to improve their postural stability and the impact it has had on their skill development and independence.
Sarah-Jane is a teacher who has worked with children and young adults with a range of Special Educational Needs, for over twenty years. For the last ten years, she has worked at Step by Step School for children and young people with autism.
Teaching the Curriculum Through a Group Work Approach
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This talk will look at how a carefully structured approach to teaching group work using ABA principles can contribute in supporting children in their development of social and communication skills.
Sarah Jane -
Secondary Teacher,
Step-by-Step School
Nick Barrett - MSc
BCBA/Lead Behaviour Analyst at Dimensions
Nick is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst specialising in the field of autism and learning disability, with a particular emphasis on behaviours that challenge. He works for a not-for-profit organisation called Dimensions as its Head of Behaviour Support.
Nick serves on the board of the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis and chairs a professionals’ group called the Applied Behaviour Analysis Forum.
ABA and behaviours that challenge:
The importance of interventions which
target service-level variables
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The presentation describes a model which integrates research on both service and individual focused
interventions, and provides case study examples illustrating the impact of such an approach.
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Amy provides tutoring, programme supervision and consultancy to children and their families at home, in school and in the community. She has over 15 years’ experience working with children and young adults with SEN and autism.
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Laetitia is mum to a 12 year old boy diagnosed with ASD who attends an SEN school in Chichester, West Sussex. Laetitia is a dedicated and powerful advocate for her son and is the main tutor on his programme.
Breaking down barriers and building relationships: home / school collaboration
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A short talk delivered by an ABA Supervisor, and a parent of a 12 year old boy diagnosed with ASD. The talk will provide a brief case study of an ABA programme that runs across home, school and community settings.
Amy Miland - MEd ABA, GradDip ABA;
TLC Consultant
Laetitia Castle (parent)